Building a place for care.
Bulltánica is a center for well-being in Durham, founded by Moe and Monica Rivera in 2024.
Our practices grew through treatment rooms at Old Five Points and growing and sharing plants in Old North Durham. Looking for room for herbs, bodywork, classes, and shared meals brought us to Whitehall Terrace.
Here, we bring together Massage by Moe and Cultivating Resistance Herbals through bodywork, herbal consultations, workshops, and gatherings. We are also repairing rooms, caring for the gardens, and researching the people connected to the house and the city around it.
Monica Rivera
Monica’s relationship with plants began in her family. The daughter of Indian and Italian immigrants, she learned about food, gardening, and preserving vegetables at home. Her grandfather taught her to gather greens, can the harvest, and care for the soil.
In 2007, she began an apprenticeship with Suki Roth at Herb Haven that continued for ten years. Her work brings together herbalism, gardening, yoga, and teaching.
Through Cultivating Resistance Herbals, Monica has offered children’s plant classes, family yoga, and community food-preservation projects. Growing and sharing herbs at Peace Farm has been part of that work.
Moe Rivera
Moe was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx. He has lived in downtown Durham since 2003 and bought a home in 2005. His work in community and afterschool programs preceded his practice as a massage and bodywork therapist.
Moe is a North Carolina Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist (LMBT #19277). His acting training sparked an interest in body awareness that still shapes his attention to breath, posture, and movement.
Alongside his bodywork practice, Moe helps care for Whitehall Terrace and develop its spaces for classes and community gatherings.
Why Whitehall Terrace matters
Whitehall Terrace brings together our family life, plant work, and bodywork practice. Following Wade Marlette’s death in February 2025, we cleared invasive plants, cleaned rooms, restored essential services, and began learning the histories held here.
We purchased Whitehall Terrace on August 26, 2026. We are caring for the house and grounds while developing plans for classes and community care. Follow the Whitehall Terrace updates for restoration progress and the latest confirmed rezoning information.
UDI Building At Old Five Points
Beginning in 2021, treatment rooms at the UDI Resource Center, 800 North Mangum Street, gave our practices a base at Old Five Points as we grew toward Bulltánica. Massage appointments are now at Whitehall Terrace.
City neighborhood plans describe the center as incubator space where small businesses could grow and connect.
